~ Poems of Love ~

The following poems have been written by me, for my husband Hamada, who suffered from Multiple Myeloma [IgG Kappa] a cancer of the plasma cells, which are found in the bone marrow. After many months of chemotherapy, contracting pneumonia twice, once given only twelve hours to live and having three bad fractures to his spine and also showing in his Pelvis, he made it to four years seven months. The Multiple Myeloma attacked his Kidneys first showing at diagnosis in May 2006 leaving Hamada only a small percentage of kidney function. He never complained, using his most amazing smile even when I knew he had severe pain. Hamada underwent a Stem Cell Transplant using his own 'harvested stem cells' . During October 2007 he spent seventeen days in the "Centre For Clinical Haematology" at Nottingham City Hospital UK. where he achieved this transplant. We had a scare at six months after transplant, when told 'the beast was back' but subsequent tests showed a partial remission. Again in early 2009 it was confirmed that Hamada was out of remission He fought again during 2010 with newer chemo type drugs. First with Velcade and then with Revlimid but to no avail. His Kidneys were failing further and Hamada chose not to have dialysis. This blog contains poems and updates, written for Hamada, telling of our life together.
Now a beautiful book has been published, see http://www.susiehemingway.com/books/
showing Hamada's personal fight against Multiple Myeloma in the first fifty 'poems of love' written by me his wife. I hope you like these poems of love and also 'our story' dedicated to Hamada, who passed away peacefully at home on 23 November 2010 after a most courageous fight against Multiple Myeloma.

24 May, 2010

Getting Smaller But With A Joyous Heart



How wonderful the weather has been here in the UK recently. Several wonderful sunlit days and temperatures on Saturday reaching 28c and a weekend that was hotter than Corfu! It was a real social weekend for us, with youngest Son Yousef(Jo) arriving on Saturday evening just as I was finishing a lovely Safari Supper in the village. I'm sure you know the type of thing, you all start together in one house and then informed where you will have your starters, after you have enjoyed that, you are told where to go for your main course and then every group ends up together in the final house for the desserts, cheese, biscuits and coffee. It was a warm balmy evening and so lovely to walk the lanes of our pretty little village, everyone going in different directions and passing each other again as we changed scenes. The organizer cleverly selected the houses I would attend, close by to our home, so for me on my walks to the next part of the meal, I was able to check in on Hamada. He is not well enough to attend this type of social occasion, so he chose to stay at home with very special supper tray. We could also kept in touch by mobile throughout the evening and we also have the wonderful 'Link-Line' alarm system fitted, so he wears the special pendant that will call anyone on his list immediately, should he feel unwell or need help. A wonderful system which allows me to relax some.
On Sunday which was again a very warm day, we had a lovely roast beef lunch at our village pub. Jo driving Hamada the little way, in his rather sporty car with the roof down, which Hamada so enjoyed (see Photo).
The other photo was taken during our meal and it saddens me very much to see how small Hamada has become. Of course I realized that before and am aware it's the nature of this beastly illness that has robbed him of 6" in height but recently he has become so much smaller in stature and seeing it clearly in this photo has confirmed these changes for me. After our rather good roast beef, we had a very lovely date to keep. One of the stalwarts of our village reached the grand age of ninety and we attended a garden party in her honour. Hamada made a supreme effort to be at this occasion as he is very fond of this particular rather marvellous lady.
The hosts of this wonderful event found Hamada a good seat under the shade of a large umbrella and with Jo's help he settled in very comfortably and managed a good time catching-up with all his old friends that through this long winter and last exhausting round of chemo, he had not been able to chat with in quite a while. What a change this lovely weather brings, we forget how important it is to those who are unwell. How it brought a sparkle to his eyes and such joy to his heart as each and everyone came to chat with him, almost as much a celebrity as the marvellous lady to whom Hamada had been so anxious to pay his birthday respects to.

6 comments:

Jinksy said...

Sounds like a good, sociable break!

Sunshine said...

Joyful days! Good to hear.

Roobeedoo said...

I've never heard of a safari supper - it sounds like a great way to make friends! Yes, diminishing height is a hard one. My daughter is growing so fast, and FL shrinking so fast, we are all swopping places on the measuring lines by the kitchen door. Traditionally we compare heights on family birthdays - I am not looking forward to June!

Elizabeth @ The Garden Window said...

I am so glad you and Hamada have been enjoying the better weather, and having some fun ! The Safari Supper sounds a brilliant idea.......

Sandy Banks said...

Those two "sports" out gadding about was a lovely picture to see... we have a similar sort of social event called a "graduated dinner" but I like your name for it much better!

I have a real sense of the gathering for the birthday celebration from your description and I am sure the one aspect of Hamada that is not growing smaller is his love for you.

Unknown said...

Safari supper?? I like that - it sounds like fun. And it sounds as though both you and H, all things considered, had a superb time...

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